Patrons

HE The Archbishop of Thyateira

and Great Britain, Gregorios

HE The Ambassador of Greece

Mr Konstantinos Bikas

HE The High Commissioner

for Cyprus

Mr Euripides L Evriviades

Hellenic Community Trust

Council

Costas Kleanthous (Chairman)

Sylvia Christodoulou

Haralambos J Fafalios

Michael Iacovou

Marilen Kedros

Ileana Kehagias

George Kyriacou

Marina, The Lady Marks

Spyros Neophytou

Akis Phylaktis

Doulla Phyrillas

Pighi Skiniti

Harris Sophoclides

George Tsavliris

Anthony Yerolemou

Emmanuel Zuridis

The Hellenic Centre

Executive Board

Sophie Kydoniefs (Chairman)

Marie Coccolatos

Daphne Economides

Stamos J Fafalios

Helen Hadjifanis

Evi Kalodiki

Natasha Lemos

Irene Monios

Constantinos A M Shiatis

The Hellenic Centre

Office

Agatha Kalisperas (Director)

Maria Kalli

Evangelia Roussou

Kay Stavrinou

Christina Vagioti

Marian Barbut

Mirela Barote

Natassa Karli

John Kenlin

Larisa Kerkache

Linda Seddon

Teachers

Chaido Alexiadou

Martha Chalkopoulou

Thomas Chatzidavaris

Theoni Dimopoulou

Sakis Giotas

Dina Haidou

Natassa Karli

Litsiana Kontogiannopoulou

Christina Kostopoulou

Ioanna Magkafa

Stela Malandri

Marina Mylonidou

Eurudiki Terzopoulou

Maria Vasilaki

Thomas Vogiatzis

THE HELLENIC CENTRE NEWS

JANUARY 2016 ● ISSUE NO 21 THE HELLENIC COMMUNITY TRUST REGISTERED CHARITY NO 1010360

We were delighted when in the New Year’s list in January 2015 Edmée Leventis was awarded on

OBE (Officer of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II, in recognition of her lifetime achieve-ments and her outstanding ‘services to Arts Philanthropy’. Edmée, an ex-Chairman of the Execu-

tive Board of the Hellenic Centre is a full time voluntary worker, involved in many cultural, philan-

thropic and charity organisations in London and Cyprus. She has previously served as the Ambas-sador of Cyprus to UNESCO and as a Trustee to the British Museum.

We were equally delighted when at this Year’s Honours, Agatha, our director was awarded a BEM

(British Empire Medal) for ‘services to the Greek community in London’. Agatha has been at the Centre since 1997 and we have seen the Hellenic Centre flourish during her directorship. It is

wonderful to see so many Greek, Greek Cypriots and Philhellenes from the wider community at-

tending our cultural events. Agatha was a school governor for several years and has been a Mag-istrate (JP) for twenty one years.

Our warmest congratulations to both!

Sophie Kydoniefs, January 2016

Overview of the Year 2015

2015 was yet another year full of challenges. We received a great number of proposals from young

artists and academics as well as cultural organisations, we hosted over 70 cultural events and we managed to have a successful, versatile and comprehensive cultural programme.

Difficult as it may be to say which event was the highlight of last year, I feel that I should briefly focus

on our 1st Hellenic London Festival, an event which represented in more than one way what the Cen-

tre stands for.

Opening with “XENIA”, the film by Panos Koutras, which had been selected to compete in the Un Cer-tain Regard section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, it succeed in presenting to a wide, multicultural

audience the current trends of Hellenic culture. The discussion on issues of identity that followed voiced the concerns of the younger generations of Greeks and Greek Cypriots in London. Concluding

the evening with a popular music recital by talented young musicians who live in London showed us

that culture can and needs to be fun as well. The positive feedback and the audience’s lively presence and participation make the preparation of the 2nd Hellenic London Festival in October an exciting proc-

ess.

My work would not have been possible without the hard work of my team and without the help and support of the members of the Hellenic Community Trust Council and the Executive Board. I am grate-

ful to them and to all of you for your support.

Best wishes to all for 2016!

A.K.

Member Societies

Anglo-Hellenic League

Cypriot Estia of London

Episteme – The Association of British

Cypriot Professionals

Eteria Ellinon Epistimonon

Greek Archaeological

Committee (UK)

Greek Cypriot Brotherhood

Hellenic Bankers

Association-UK

Hellenic Engineers Society

Hellenic Foundation

Hellenic Medical Society

Hellenic Psychaitric

Association (HPA-UK)

Ionian Society

Lobby for Cyprus

Lykion ton Hellinidon

Macedonian Society

of Great Britain

Oinoussai Benevolent Fund

Omilos Eksipiretiton (Servers’ Society)

Peloponnesian Association

of Great Britain

Society for Modern Greek Studies

Society for the Promotion

of Hellenic Studies

We had eleven exhibitions during the year.

On Kurtulus Street An exhibition of drawings and paintings by Sophie Charalambous documented the

unique atmosphere of Larnaca, Cyprus and explored the artist’s memories. Photographs of Medieval Rhodes as seen by Giuseppe Gerola in early 20th century were exhibited during a lecture by Michael

Heslop. Mostly Cyprus were works by Janet Scott, who has painted every summer in Cyprus since

1980. “The Alexandria Quartet” paintings by Andreas Georgiadis based on the novel by L. Durrell was presented the first time in Bibliotheca Alexandrina in 2014. Αφουγκράσου/Listen was an inter-

active installation by Katerina Xenophontos which reflected the artist’s interest on the internal dialogue between the island of Cyprus and the community of Cypriots through tradition, culture and concepts of

identity. Diving An exhibition of paintings by Evangelia Ronga, evoked the crystal clarity of water and

created an image of the colour blue, which is strongly associated with the natural environment of Greece. ‘Hear Me’ Hermes Mixed media exhibition by Stephanie Psarros presented the glory of

Greece in ancient and modern times. Κύπρος: Ιστορία, Μνήμες, Φύση / Cyprus: History, Memo-

ries, Nature was an exhibition of paintings by the distinguished Cypriot artist, Antonis Zenios. W1D was a documentary photo project about Greek professionals who live and work in London by Cynthia

Tzitzis. Mythological puppets, hangings and clothes inspired by ancient Greek beasts and the Hellenic Centre’s Patterns of Magnificence exhibition in 2014, were exhibited by East London Textile Arts under

the title Deities, Beasts and Beauty, and the inspirational work by Erietta Vordoni Summer in our

Hearts showed us how everything seems possible when we feel love inside us.

JANUARY 2016 ● ISSUE NO 21

Exhibitions

Recital with Trio Arundos The woodwind ensemble with three leading Yamaha artists from Greece ,

Konstantinos Giovanni on oboe, Grammenos Halkias on clarinet and Ioannis Evaggelatos on bassoon, all Principals in the City of Athens Symphony Orchestra, presented a beautiful programme of pieces

that included Beethoven.

Fusionia Duo Marios Ioannou and Savvas Lagou performed a programme that included works for two

violins by Prokofiev and Bella Bartok.

Rachmaninoff - Variations in a Life Costas Fotopoulos interpreted the music of the composer who bridged the gap between the romantic and the modernists whilst Alberto Bona presented Rachman-

inoff’s life.

Passage Into History A documentary in English with Greek subtitles, on the history of excavations at Nemea, the modern revival of the Nemean Games and the efforts of archae-ologist Stephen G. Miller,

Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, to expand our knowledge of ancient Greece.

The Greek Legends: a Comedy Remake - Myths Hammer and Tongs Theatre group brought the legends of Ancient Greece to the Hellenic Centre. The Greek Myths were retold as you had never seen

them before, accompanied by live music.

Borrowed Shoes A ‘solo and a cappella’ music performance. Christina Maxouri ‘borrows’ old and new

Greek melodies, and interprets them ‘a cappella’, in a handmade, home-crafted performance.

Celebrating the Past, the Present, the Future Theatre Lab Company celebrated their creative work over the years.

Stefan Cassomenos: Piano Recital Melbourne-based concert pianist and composer Stefan Cas-

somenos, one of Australia’s most vibrant and versatile musicians, performed a recital of works by Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, G. Ligeti and Brahms.

Markos Vamvakaris Autobiography - The Man and the Bouzouki An enjoyable evening with

readings and live music to launch the first English translation of the book. Markos Vamvakaris is a tow-ering presence in the history of Greek music.

Jazz Democracy The Greek saxophonist Dimitris Vassilakis gave a talk and recital which showed how

jazz, functioning as a universal language, can teach us ways to communicate in a more humane, de-

mocratic and creative way. The event was part of the EFG London Jazz Festival 2015.

Christmas Jazz Concert A wonderful evening of jazz and Christmas songs, with Katerina Mina so-

prano, Marios Toumbas on piano, Charis Ioannou on saxophone and Irenaeos Koullouras double bass.

Theatre/Music/Films

Company Members

A Bilbrough & Co Ltd

Anthea Investments Ltd

Bank of Cyprus UK

Bonhams-The Greek Department

Chandris (UK) Ltd

Chios Navigation Co Ltd

Curzon Maritime Ltd

Cyprus Tourism Organisation

Eagle Ocean Transport

EFG Private Bank Ltd

Embiricos Shipbrokers

Fafalios Ltd

Faros Maritime Ltd

Fastbeck Ltd T/A Halepi Restaurant

Future Intelligence

Grays of Westminster

It’s All Greek

Latsco (London) Limited

Libra Capital Limited

Melon Events

Moore Stephens

NHS

Nicholas & Co

Odysea Ltd

One Stop Weddings Ltd

Piraeus Bank S.A.

Royal Bank of Scotland

Ryman Limited

Southern Shipping & Finance Co Ltd

Surgical Conference Management

UES London Ltd

University of Central

Lancashire-Cyprus

University of Westminster

January

Curating the Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor Archive Curator David McClay discussed the National Li-brary of Scotland’s recent acquisition of Paddy’s extensive and outstanding archives, and spoke of

their recent activities and future plans. Changing Concepts of Autism in the 21st Century was

delivered by David Skuse, Professor of Behavioural and Brain Sciences at University College London. Greek Shipping, 1700-1821 - The Heyday before the Greek War of Independence was a

round table discussion about Modern Greek Shipping on the occasion of the publication of Prof Gelina

Harlaftis and Dr Katerina Papakonstantinou’s book. Orthodoxy, Hellenism and Christian Witness in the 21th Century was given by Dr Petros Sarris, Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford and was part of

the yearly celebrations for Christian and Greek Literature.

February An International Poetry Event combined work from an established British poet and novelist Alan

Brown-john and Greek-Cypriot poet George Tardios who had just completed his collection, Buttoned-

up Shapes, on characters from his mother's village in Morphou, Cyprus. The Hospitallers (Knights of St John) in the Dodecanese: 1306-1522 An illustrated lecture by Michael Heslop, Royal Hollo-

way, University of London. Mycenean Crete: Religion, State Authority and Royal Symbolism, New Evidence from Crete An illustrated lecture by Dr Athanasia Kanta, Honorary Director of Antiqui-

ties, Heraklion Prefecture. The Impact of Greek Culture: Tragedy and Food - New Research In-

sights University of Exeter scholars talked about how Greek tragedy has long been seen as a major influence on Western literature and drama and fragments of lost Greek tragedies give a taste of the

wealth of dramatic material from writers less well-known than Sophocles and Euripides. New research techniques based on analysis of food remains show how the Greek diet helped to shape Roman pat-

terns of eating in antiquity.

March

Το Λονδίνο του Γιώργου Σεφέρη / George Seferis’s London A lecture in Greek by Dr Giorgos Georgis, University of Cyprus, showed the impact Seferis’s stay in London had on his poetry. Reputa-

tion in the Digital Age - What is your Online Identity? Information technology expert Konstanti-nos Varsis, discussed how our online presence and digital footprint affect our everyday lives and what

we can do to be in control.

April

Sendall in Cyprus 1892-1898: A Governor in Bondage Professor Robert Holland, Kings College presented the book by Dr Diana Markides, University if Cyprus. Cyprus-Germany 800 Years of

History and Culture and Painting of the Divine was presented by Dr Dionysios Stathakopoulos, King’s College London and Dr Angeliki Lymberopoulou, Open University London in the presence of the

authors Dr Charalambos Chotzakoglou and Dr Ioannis Eliades.

May

Thieves Academy: Learning how to Become a Thief and a Cheater in Ancient Sparta An illus-trated lecture in English by Dr Chrysanthi Gallou-Minopetrou, University of Nottingham. “Exodus” - A

Contemporary Fairy Tale for Adults was the latest book by Greek writer George Hadjistergiou; Prof Dimitris Papanikolaou, University of Oxford, and Antonio Guerreiro, Portuguese intellectual, discussed

with the author the harsh social, political and economic developments which unfolded in Europe. The

Grandeur that Was Paris and the Glory that Was London A lecture by Dr Ian Jenkins comple-mented two exhibitions at the British Museum: Defining Beauty, the Body in Ancient Greek Art and

Bonaparte and the British. Abducting a General - Planning, Execution and Sequelae Chris and Peter White had extensively researched and recorded over 60 locations used by the Special Operations

Executive during the Second World War and have been instrumental in editing the book. Greek

Dress in a Roman Context Dr Ursula Rothe compared the fundamentally different qualities and cul-tural meanings of Greek and Roman dress and looked at the ways in which Greek dress evolved in the

Roman world. Byzantium as a Referent in Early-20th Century Architecture: The University of

Ionia, Saint Demetrius and Aristotelous Street Dr Kalliopi Amygdalou, discussed in English, through selected examples, the plurality of ideological flows and symbolisms that these buildings ac-

quired in their respective contexts in a period of competition between national, religious and imperial identities in the region.

June

Prouder Than Ever: my War, my Diary, my Embroideries A presentation by Alexis Penny Casdagli of the secret diary kept by Major Casdagli from his capture in Crete on 1 June 1941 through his incar-

ceration in Prisoner of War camps. Love’s Labour Lost or a Tale of Modern Greek Literature in English Translation A lecture by David Connolly, Emeritus Professor of Translation Studies, Aristotle

University of Thessaloniki. Petros Markaris in discussion with David Connolly Petros Markaris has

written several plays, cooperated with Theo Angelopoulos on a number of film scripts and became known to a much wider audience with his series of crime novels and is considered one of the most

JANUARY 2016 ● ISSUE NO 21

Lectures/Presentations

Hellenic Community Trust

a Company limited by guarantee

Charity Reg. No 1010360

Registered office: Enstar House

163/173 Praed Street

London W2 1RH

Reg in England No. 2643543

The Hellenic Centre

16-18 Paddington Street

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London W1U 5AS

T: 020 7487 5060

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THE HELLENIC CENTRE NEWS

is published by

The Hellenic Centre Office

successful living Greek authors. The summer term ended with The Emperor and the Cardinals:

Dialogue in 12th Century Constantinople, a lecture by Professor Dame Averil Cameron, DBE, Uni-versity of Oxford.

September

Patrick Leigh Fermor in Greece A talk in English by Artemis Cooper, author of Patrick Leigh Fermor:

An Adventure. The Wisdom of the Poem: C P Cavafy/A Sikelianos - An Innovative Approach Honouring poetry as the highest art of life, Omilos Eksipiretiton presented a different and philosophical

way of analysis, through poems by Cavafy and Sikelianos. What Next for Greece A lecture in English by Vicky Pryce, Chief Economic Adviser, CEBR. Fallen Angel - Έκπτωτος Άγγελος A presentation in

Greek of Nicole-Anna Maniati’s book a sensitive novel dealing with self-harm and the cruelty or indif-

ference that drives children to it.

October Travelling Artists to Cyprus from the 1700s to 1960 through the Cyprus Visual Arts Re-

search Foundation (CVAR) Collections An illustrated talk by Rita Severis director of the Founda-tion in the heart of the old section of Nicosia, Cyprus. Tragedy and Revolución: Ancient Greek

Drama in Modern Latin America An illustrated presentation by Dr Rosa Andújar, A G Leventis Re-

search Fellow, Department of Greek and Latin, University College London. The Genocide of Pontian Greeks was a presentation in Greek by Prof Konstantinos Fotiadis and the Seventh Annual Memo-

rial Lecture for Julian Chrysostomides: “Rethinking Innovation in Byzantium” was delivered

by Professor Apostolos Spanos.

November

Cyprus, the EU and the Eastern Mediterranean The accession of Cyprus to the EU in 2004 is the

single most important strategic development in the country’s turbulent history since independence in 1960. Cyprus also became a member of the Eurozone in 2008 and it’s going through an economic cri-

sis. In this lively presentation, the High Commissioner of Cyprus, His Excellency Euripides L.

Evriviades, underlined why both Cyprus and the EU are important to each other and to the long term security, development and economic prosperity not only of the Eastern Mediterranean, but of the

European continent. Prof Josiah Ober talked about The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece. Paddy's World was a presentation by Viscount John Julius Norwich, who knew Patrick Leigh Fermor for more

than fifty years. Byzantine Cyprus A lecture by Prof Panayiotis Agapitos, University of Cyprus, on the

JANUARY 2016 ● ISSUE NO 21

Fundraising /Traditional/ Social Events

Every year we celebrate our customs and traditions. The New Year starts with the Vasilopitta eve-

nings; the Lykion ton Hellinidon celebrated it with tombola and traditional Greek dancing and the Hel-lenic Centre evening attracted many young people who enjoyed wine and live music with the well-

known Greek artist Giorgis Christodoulou, accompanied by the talented jazz guitarist Panagiotis

Athanatos, with songs by Attik, Hatzidakis, Cole Porter and also with Spanish and French melodies and Brazilian bossa nova.

Carnival was celebrated with the Children’s Carnival Party and Lykion ton Hellinidon celebrated

Tsiknopempti with an evening with Greek food, music and Greek dancing. A few days later the begin-ning of Lent Kathara Deftera was celebrated with a traditional vegetarian lunch and Easter with a

live performance of traditional Greek music and the cracking of red eggs.

David Holton, Professor of Modern Greek, University of Cambridge gave a talk in Greek on ‘Ο

Πατριωτισμός του Μακρυγιάννη / Makriyiannis’s Patriotism’ on the occasion of the Greek National day 25 March.

The Hellenic Centre Fundraising Committee organised a trip to the Ely cathedral and to the stained

glass museum. In December the committee organised a Christmas Dinner, a very successful eve-ning which featured a Greek stand –up comedienne and live music. Money raised were for the Greek

charity DESMOS. The year ended with the Christmas Bazaar organised by Lykion ton Hellinidon

which offered delicious homemade kourambiedes and melomakarona.